Swedes in Leadville

Program:“Swedes in Leadvillle”Beverly Harbourt and Jean Adams, SGSC Members

In 2015 the SwedGen genealogists from Sweden visited Colorado to digitize Colorado Swedish Church Records. The Swedish Genealogical Society of Colorado was instrumental in identifying Swedish Churches along the front range where records still existed.

Beverly Harbourt and Jean Adams volunteered to assist in indexing some of the records, their first project being the records from Leadville. During the indexing, they found some interesting Swedes in Leadville and they will share some of their stories on Saturday.

Beverly Harbourt grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska. She is the past President of SGSC, an SGSC mentor, and an avid researcher of her Swedish and German roots. Bev is also involved in the indexing project of digitized Swedish Church records from some Colorado churches. She is the custodian of her family’s historical photographs and some of the family heirlooms, has been researching her ancestors for over 20 years, and has visited Sweden three times. She joined SGSC in 2009 following her retirement and subsequent move from the Washington D. C. area to Colorado.

Jean Adams was born in Omaha, Nebraska to first and second generation Swedish parents. She graduated from Purdue University with a BS degree in Conservation Education and a MS in Science. Jean taught middle school biology and general science but eventually left teaching to open a retail business. While a business owner in Indiana she earned a MBA degree from the University of Indianapolis. In 2011 Jean retired and moved to Colorado to be near her children and grandchildren. As a new genealogical researcher, Jean joined the SGSC and Columbine Genealogical and Historical Society in January 2013. Now, four years later she has visited Sweden twice, researched her grandparents and met living cousins.